In Exam, you may get 2-3 questions which are based on Value Stream Mapping. Here I am providing details of VSM which will cover all kind of questions including how it can be used in optimizing a process

What Is Value Stream Mapping:

Value stream mapping is a lean-management method for analysing the current state and designing a future state for the series of events needed to take a product or service to the customer. The series of events required to take the product or service to the customer are known as Request Fulfillment cycle.A Request Fulfilment cycle takes a product from raw material to waiting arms of the client and may include many projects.

In Customer Request Fulfilment Cycle, the Value Stream Mapping focus on ‘Optimise the whole' lean principle. The Lean is a way of thinking and has seven principles. ‘Optimise the whole.' is one of them.Thus, designing the future states for the entire cycle need to be aligned with the strategic plan.

Value stream mapping maps the information flow along with the material flow and provides the picture of ideas to eliminate waste.

The simplest way to describe waste is “Something that adds no Value.” Our customers would not be happy to pay for any action that we take that does not add value to what they want. Lean describes seven types of waste:

I. The Waste of Transport: Transport is the movement of materials from one location to another, this is a waste as it adds zero value to the product.

II. The Waste of Inventory: Inventory costs you money, every piece of product tied up in raw material, work in progress or finished goods has a cost and until it is sold that cost is yours. Anything which is not consumed is a waste.

III. The Waste of Motion: Unnecessary motions are those movements of man or machine which are not as small or as easy to achieve as possible

IV. The Waste of Waiting: We tend to spend an enormous amount of time waiting for things in our working lives (and personal lives too), this is an obvious waste.

V. The waste of Overproduction: The worst of all of the seven wastes; the waste of overproduction is making too much or too early. This is usually because of working with oversized batches, long lead times, poor supplier relations and a host of other reasons.

VI. The Waste of Over-processing: The waste of over-processing is where we use inappropriate techniques, oversized equipment, working to tolerances that are too tight, perform processes that are not required by the customer and so forth.

VII. The Waste of Defects: Every defective item needs rework or replacement, it consumes resources and materials, it creates paperwork, and it can lead to losing of customers.